Are you interested in programming video games? Don’t you know what language you should learn? In this blog post from EDteam, José Luján will respond. In this article, we will learn what programming languages can help anyone interested in developing video games.
C# is probably the language of any article for video game development is going to have. The most, important reason to learn this language is this great engine: Unity as it is the most important tool of video game development today. This engine is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and also has support to compile for almost any platform: Android, Steam, iOS, Windows, PlayStation, Switch, Wii U, Xbox, Oculus The list of platforms on which your video game can work is immense, and the truth is that we could give you 1000 reasons to use Unity and to learn C# thanks to this tool. However, there are other options besides C# in Unity: javascript, C, C++, Boo Some go output like Boo, others are implementing more like javascript, but it’s a reality that the C# features and the easy coupling that the tool can get are what puts it on all these languages.
Before Unity appeared on the market, Java was the language almost preferably for the development of indie-type video games (which were not made by massive companies). Java used the multiplatform to its maximum expression, if we do a bit of memory the first video games for cell phones were all Java, that is, that we had a virtual machine and that this was the bridge for the video games created with Java to work, even (with slight changes in controls or inputs) on Linux, Windows or Mac, this is due to the famous JVM. Java still plays a significant role in the development of video games, with its limitations but having an evident global success. Minecraft could be the ultimate exponent, plus there are Frameworks like LibGDX that still allow developers to create video games in a simple way and with only knowledge of Java. Java is one of the programming languages that also has a lot of frameworks for the development of video games: LibGDK, JMonkeyEngine, Slick2D, Burning 3D, Java 3D Even with just knowing Java you already have foot and a half within the possibility to create a video game for Android, although they can be generated native only by implementing Java we would be a little limited by physics and other things that we would have to program from zero, but on android we also have libraries and frameworks for the development of games and that is 100% compatible with Java: AndEngine, Rokon, Cocos2d, LibGDX, box2D. We can then deduce that Java alone is quite attractive for video game development and that we would not be able to make the jump for android that is quite attractive for the share of users we can access.
Within this list, we might think that no C# or Java have no competitors, but Javascript has an advantage: it’s for the web. With the scope that HTML5 can now have and the 2D and 3D graphics libraries that have appeared javascript takes an important role in the development of video games, especially if we are interested that our game is easy to run and that it works on the internet. The first limitations javascript had are the ones that now make it stronger:
These limitations have now changed, with an HTML5 of enormous reach, the rate of the internet has increased exponentially, browsers already have very well defined standards, and above all, they work day by day to improve their performance. Javascript is gaining strength, and if your decision is then a game that works on the internet simply javascript is Option Number 1. Every day we could find new libraries to work with javascript, and that will help us create more and better functionalities, although this can become a disadvantage. The biggest “but” that we can put javascript in the world of video game development is that we need to couple enough tools to achieve basic functionalities and that in other languages we may use 1 Framework or 2, in javascript we will be able to see projects with 5 or 6 libraries that help us develop the plan, this usually translates into a reasonably broad learning curve and especially in details of compatibilities. I repeat, javascript is the best option for a game in the browser.
To conclude this article, we share that Lua and C++ are good options also in the development of video games, Lua, for example, took a short range to some extensions and functionalities of video games like World of Warcraft. As a curious fact, Lua was created in Brazil and is an extension language, so actually, Lua must be included in something already developed, so we will always find it as a support within the projects and not as the pillar of it. C++, on the other hand, we know that it has in its route everything of the World C, something like C, Java, C#. Technologies that have already been mentioned as an essential role in the game development world, the only “but” we could suggest for C++ is that it does not have as many tools or engines as Java and C#, although it could be placed within the top 5 programming languages for development. I hope with this article; I have oriented even to a developer who is thinking about where to start his steps for the development of a video game.
